These are the only ones that come to mind right now. I'm sure more can be added, but still, there have been tens of thousands of movies produced over the decades and yet we have this few movies with space battles? Surely more can be done?

My guess is it is due to the resources that it takes to create a decent space combat. It is similiar to why war movies are so expensive, it costs a lot to create the ships/uniforms, special effects, etc.

I think it's mainly due to the fact that the Star Wars saga has set the bar so high for space battles. Many directors and writers are afraid to venture into the realm merely out of fear of being sub-par in comparison.

"Do not forget The Last Starfighter! Sure wish someone would make a sequel to that one. Heh-heh-heh..."

I didn't. I consider the space battle in The Last Starfighter to be one of the best ever. The Gunstars are awesome and the Death Blossom was genious. I wish they would do a sequel as well. Btw, it was the first movie to have an all cgi space battle. Impressive since it was done in 86'.

I think it's because space travel is not really a part of life as we know it. There aren't many occasions for a space battle in simple fiction, and let's face it... you could always create an excuse for space battles by creating your own galaxy full of futuristic technology and a widespread civil war, but I'd like to see you do it without copying Star Wars.

My theory has always been that filmmakers are afraid of doing space battles because critics will consider them Star Wars rip-offs, simply because the space battles in ANH blew everyone away. I look at Independence Day, great movie, ton of fun, but most critics just looked at it as Star Wars on Earth.

Dude, how can you forget the epic battle in Spaceballs? That was a great battle. Especially the last battle with the transformed "Spaceball 1" sucking all of the air off of Druidia. Spaceballs had some epic battles.

But seriously, just about every sci-fi movie which is based in space has had some sort of battle in space, whether long or very brief.

I think your taking this out of context. We are talking about why there are so few SPACE BATTLES in film considering there are tens of thousands of movies. I was merely mentioning recent sci-fi movies.

Did you not see The Last Starfighter and SW and ST mentioned in my original post? Close Encounters and E.T. don't have Space Battles in them. Not trying to argue, but it seems you were being little sarcastic.

You suggested that the Matrix (a movie with no space battles) "proved" that Sci-fi was popular. I was merely pointing out that Sci-fi did not begin in the 1990's.

My point was that Sci-fi isn't a large genere, and the projects in it are always dubed a risk by the studio. Drama, Comedy, Romance, and Action/Adventure are all generes that have a high profit-to-cost ratio, so they are made more often, and hence, are more popular for a studio to make.

The battle between Jango and Ben in AOTC was visually beautiful. It was really a high point for the saga in terms of dog fighting in space. Also, the little nod to the OT and Han was nice (Obi-Wan hiding on the asteroid).

The reason why there haven?t been too many is because "space battle" is something very specific. When we see those words, we associate ships or vehicles, if you will, in space, battling one another. Thus, many films have a form of space battle, just not taking place in space.

I think the biggest reason there are not many space battle/space opera films being made is solely because of artistic inclination. And because Star Wars pretty much covered all the ground. But mostly artistic inclination. Most sci-fi material story-wise is usually told on a much smaller scale though it can contain monumental meaning and/or plot devices.